Like Me: Conversation Heart Cupcakes

Oh man, I am so behind on posting Valentine's Day desserts--there's a huge backlog on my blog queue!--because my every spare minute has been going into catering a department Valentine's party yesterday (more on that in a few days).  But now that it's over, I can finally catch up with the times!

One of my favorite, favorite candies on Valentine's Day is conversation hearts.  I know, they're probably tacky like the rest of Valentine's Day, but there's something so classic and succinct about them that's irresistible to me.  In fact, I'm munching on a box right now.  :-P

I wanted to translate conversation hearts into a true dessert for Valentine's Day, and after some serious consideration and questionable prototypes last year, I finally figured out these Conversation Heart Cupcakes this year, which I'm really happy with!  With the forms in place, I also set out to update those messages on the hearts for the 21st century:

Ah, yes.  Welcome to the digital age!  Hehe, thinking up new messages for these conversation hearts were so much fun.  How about some Twitter-inspired ones?

(Though not pictured, I also had ones that said "RT me" and "DM me.")  Or, some Facebook-inspired hearts?

I had to also, of course, pay homage to one of my favorite tech sites, Gizmodo, with a <3modo cupcake.  And, the "I Digg U" one is credited to Richard, who proudly came up with the whole tech-inspired idea in the first place.

Of course, I also couldn't quite resist making a sideways dig at Apple, because, quite honestly, they really need to coin a better term for their video-output connectors than "dongle."  Hehe.

Yeah, dongle just took on a whole new meaning. :-P

The conversation hearts are actually super easy and simple to make.  They are made out of flavored couverture chocolate, and the hardest part is really the writing on the top.  :-)  Underneath, I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting just because I love the bright red-ness for Valentine's Day.  And, I made more pina colada cupcakes, too, because they are just so darn good.

I took these cupcakes to the event that I was catering, and everyone was so incredibly thrilled, but I think what they loved even more were the linguistics-inspired conversation hearts, which were the perfect meld of geeky, suggestive, naughty, and sweet:

Yes, I kid you not: those are all technical linguistics terms.  :-P

I hope you all have a wonderful and lovely Valentine's Day, full of sweet, yummy treats!

Read on for directions on making conversation heart cupcake toppers.

Key (Lime) to My Heart

Yet another dessert from the vast dessert table I did for Maria and Nick's wedding this past weekend (comprehensive post coming soon, I promise)!  At our first meeting, Nick mentioned that he really liked key lime pie, so I knew that I wanted, no matter what, to include it in the dessert menu.  But man, oh man! Squeezing key limes is one hell of a pain.  I've joked with several people now that if I were to open my own bakeshop and sell key lime pie, I would *have* to hire someone I couldn't stand and force them to squeeze key limes for by hand.  Or, just get someone who really enjoyed eating key lime pies.  Anyways! if you dare, I'll include the recipe here.  Or, if you have one of those handy dandy juice squeezers, you're golden, and I'm very jealous.

Key lime pie

with graham cracker crust

and dark/white chocolate hearts

By the way, these heart shaped mini-pans are just awesome.  I got mine at Sur la Table, though I couldn't find them online when I looked.  I also have the round version, which I did find on the website.  They're great pans, and mousses, cakes, cheesecakes, or tarts that I make with them always slide right out.  (of course, if you're paranoid like me, you'll take the time to line the bottoms with parchment and spray a bit of non-stick...)

Now onto the recipe (and chocolate hearts)!

Key Lime Pie

makes ~24 mini hearts

for graham cracker crust (this will make a bit more crust that you need, but better to have too much than not enough, in my book)

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I just run store-bought graham crackers through a food processor)
1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
1/3 cup melted butter

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Mix in butter.
2. Press the crumb mixture into (sprayed and lined) the bottoms of the pans, about 1 Tbspn per heart.  Use something like the side of a small rolling pin to press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan and a little bit up the sides.
3. Put the crust in the freezer while making the filling.

for filling

2 14oz. cans condensed milk (Trader Joe's has great organic condensed milk for cheap)
8 large egg yolks (save those whites for meringues/macarons!)
2-3 Tbspn key lime zest
1 cup key lime juice (~25 key limes... have fun!)
green food coloring (I used gel coloring, so please adjust as needed)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Combine milk, yolks, zest, and juice in a bowl.  Whisk until smooth.  Whisk in one to two drops of food coloring for a light green color.
3. Pour mixture into the crumb-prepared pans, filling about to about two-thirds full.  Bake for 13-15 minutes until the center looks set but moves like jello when you give the pan a bit of a gentle shake.
4. Remove from oven and let cool completely.  Keep the pies in the pans until you are ready to serve.

To make chocolate hearts:

Melt chopped chocolate gradually in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl or in a double boiler.  Pour the melted chocolate into a disposable piping bag or parchment triangle.  Be careful! The chocolate is very hot!  If it's too hot to hold, wrap a dish towel or paper towel around it so you don't burn your hands.  Then, pipe small heart shapes on a piece of parchment paper or Silpat.  Allow the chocolate to cool completely, and then peel off the parchment paper.  These hearts are made of untempered chocolate, so they are very delicate and should be kept in the fridge.  I use a pair of chopsticks to arrange them on the pies, but food-safe tweezers are also useful.  :-)











So one last story about the key lime pies.  As I was cleaning up the dessert table and consolidating the few remaining morsels onto two platters, a wedding guest comes up to me and asks, "Are there any more of those key lime pies?"  When I told him no, his face just completely fell!  He was so disappointed that I felt so bad I hadn't made more.  But, at the very least, I take it as a sign that all that key lime squeezing and juicing really paid off.